I know and it's silly. The 3rd generation was marketed as "The new iPad", and got the retina screen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad_(3rd_generation)

The 4th generation is marked as "iPad with Retina display" even though it was not the first with the retina display.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad_(4th_generation)

I suppose the original comment was about the crazy marketing, not the features.

The 3rd-gen iPad had a retina display, but the marketing name for the 4th-gen iPad is "iPad with Retina Display". Yes, when the 4th-gen iPad was released, "The new iPad" (the 3rd-gen iPad) was no longer the new iPad, and "iPad with Retina Display" wasn't the first iPad with a retina display.

It was also a significant SoC upgrade, from A5X to A6X. The iPad 4th gen could handle the Retina display much more smoothly.

The fact that I need to remember that and tell my friends to watch out for that pitfall when they order their "new" iPad is just frustrating.

What do you mean? There are no pitfalls when buying a new iPad.